


We're way too young for this shit

by kitkat1003



Series: Eddsworld Monster Kiddos AU [1]
Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Eddsworld Monster Apartment AU, Kiddos AU, hope you guys like this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-06-07 18:06:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6818602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkat1003/pseuds/kitkat1003
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eyyo anyone follow the Monster Apartments AU?  Well, if you've heard of the kiddos au for that and wanted to see kids suffer, then you're in luck!<br/>Can be read as a stand alone, but I'd read Jujukind and Super Casey's AU first, just because they are AMAZING WRITERS</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When we were young were young and free and searching for an eternity.

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [More than You Bargained for](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6358645) by [Jujukind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jujukind/pseuds/Jujukind), [supercasey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/supercasey/pseuds/supercasey). 



> So, this is my labor of love. 3 days of writing and this is the result. Enjoy! (sorry if thee tenses get a bit weird.)

Patryk's face is blushing bright red as he walks down the sidewalk with his six year made husband. The sound of music from the club they had left roars behind him, some catchy tune that sends the crowd screaming. He really liked the place, and it was a fun way to spend their anniversary, but...

"I'm sorry we had to leave early. It's just-too many people and I-," He cuts himself off and rubs the back of his head, half-drunk and half-embarrassed. Thinking of mobs of humans makes him think of the hellhole of a village he grew up in, and he really doesn't want to think about the people- ** _monsters_** -he knew on a night like this. Paul's bright green eyes soften, and he grabs Patryk's hand and squeezes it comfortingly.

"Hey, it's fine. Besides," He wiggles his somehow massive eyebrows. "We can sill have fun at home."

If possible, Patryk's face gets even redder.

They walk past an alleyway, and then stop at the overwhelming smell of blood. Paul turns, gripping Patryk's hand tighter.

"Hello?" Patryk calls out hesitantly as the two make their way towards the putrid stench. Paul takes out his phone and uses the flashlight to help them see. Sure, they could have shifted, but they didn't want to scare whoever was hurt, and with the government's views on monsters, it was best to remain human-like. They hear small cries, but it doesn't really stop them from continuing forward.

What they see makes them freeze.

A woman lies dead in the middle of a pentagram written on the ground with blood. She's wearing a pretty light blue dress and has dark brown hair and tan skin, and the worst part is that she looks no older than twenty. Her stomach is ripped open with most of her organs thrown about, her eyes wide and her mouth wide open as if she had died screaming. In the middle of her innards, there's a small moving figure. Getting closer, they realize it's a child. It's not human, if the red glowing eyes are any indication, not to mention the small feathery tail and black ram-like horns. Tears mix in with the blood on its face as it cries, and the messy mop of brownish hair that is on the baby's head is spiked up so it looks like it has two more horns.

Oh, its a boy.

For a moment, they stand there, drunk and confused.

"Should we call the cops?" Paul asks. Patryk sighs.

"Yeah, but how the fuck do we explain this?"

* * *

 

It takes months, almost a year, until they finally get custody of the child. After all the explaining, questioning, and then court case, they finally name the young boy and take him home. It might have taken longer given the circumstances, but the two were well respected, both in the human and monster communities, and friends with the prominent supernatural leader Mrs. Gold. Not to mention that a monster child usually didn't really have many running up to adopt. The DNA test confirmed the child to be an incubus, and they weren't really surprised with the demon part, given the pentagram. They were mostly surprised that the government had the DNA of an incubus considering how rare demons were to coming out into the open.

"So, what's his name gonna be?" Patryk asks, looking down at the small child before them. He's wrapped up in a red blanket that matches his eyes, and giggles at the couple staring down at him.

"Hmm. I don't know. Ford?" Paul suggests, and Patryk mishears the word.

"Tord? Really?" He replies, and Paul snorts.

"What, no, I said Ford, but, actually...I kinda like Tord now," He says, and Patryk laughs.

"Tord it is then," He says, and on the birth certificate it is made clear.

Tord Luvart was theirs.

That night, they take Tord into the small apartment they had rented out when they realized they wanted the child. Tord's room is painted a soft maroon color, and the crib has little demon-esque pictures painted on it. They set the child down in the bed and rock him to sleep. Their own room is just three steps from Tord's, so they make their way there and fall asleep in each other's arms.

* * *

 

_Six years later:_

Eduardo is six when he moves next to Jon. His parents give him free reign of the area, since they don't particularly care if he lives or dies. _Well, screw them then_ , he thinks, and he explores the different areas. There's nothing particularly interesting, but there's another house nearby, so he walks over there and sees if there's anyone who isn't completely annoying or stupid that he can hang out with. He knocks on the door, and a kid who looks about his age answers. He's wearing a maroon-ish color turtleneck which boggles Eduardo considering the heat, and has big blue tinted glasses that cover his eyes.

"Hello?" The kid asks, and Eduardo realizes he's been standing there staring for a full minute.

"Hey, uh, I'm Eduardo, and I moved in around here just now, so wanna hang out?" God, he knows he sounds cringey, but he doesn't really know what else to say. The kid looks at him for a second, as though judging him, before nodding.

"Sure. I'm Mark. Oh, and by the way, can my friend Jon come along?" He-Mark-replies, and Eduardo wants to say no, but Mark is the first kid he's seen and he doesn't want to be the kid with no friends. He nods, and Mark calls out behind him. "Jon! We're going out to play with someone new!" There's a pitter-patter of feet hitting the tile, and a shrimp of a child makes his way over. He's got a too big button-up dark blue polo shirt on and fancy shoes that are again too big for the small child's feet, so they make loud thumps when he walks. The weirdest thing is the lack of color in the kid's eyes, but Eduardo isn't one to judge to much by looks, so he doesn't ask. He's way younger than Eduardo, that's for sure, and Eduardo really doesn't wanna babysit.

"Hi!"

Eduardo's all set to give Mark a talking to about taking care of some weenie baby, but then the kid flashes him a smile so big and innocent that it should be illegal, and he's holding the damn kid's hand and walking around while Mark regales the different things they can do around the scrappy farm area they're surrounded by.

"Hide n' go see! Hide n' go see!" Jon begs, bouncing up and down, and Eduardo doesn't find the game too unappealing, so he agrees to play. Mark counts first, and Eduardo finds the perfect spot underneath some truck, but Jon has to ruin it by screaming at him. He gets out from underneath the vehicle ready to yell back, but then the thing drops from it's frame and hits the ground with a crash that causes him to jump back. Jon's running and grabbing Eduardo in a tight hug, tears and snot running down his face and onto Eduardo's shirt. Eduardo is just barely trembling, and Mark makes his way over, grinning.

"Found you guys!" He says triumphantly, before noticing their terrified expressions. "What?"

They decide to play somewhere else.

 

* * *

At the end of the day, Mark takes him aside.

"Hey, thanks for playing with Jon today. I know he can be kinda a hassle," He says, and Eduardo snorts.

"Yeah, whatever," He says, because honestly, today was pretty fun. Mark, doesn't let it go, and continues. "Jon's parents are pretty sucky. It sucks that he has that, so you making him happy means a bit," He says, and Eduardo's stomach twists at the thought of Jon's parents. If they're anything like his, Eduardo doesn't know how Jon manages to smile all the time.

"I guess it's cool I helped him out. Same time tomorrow?" He asks, and Mark smiles.

"Sure, see ya then." Eduardo's smiling slightly when he gets home, and even when his Mom screams at him and takes out the belt for him being out so long, he still goes to bed happy.

The next few days are like that, filled with games and enjoyment. Jon always has something to say, whether it's annoying or not, and Eduardo either smiles or yells at him, though he tries to tone it down, because he doesn't know how much yelling Jon gets at home.

Mark's parents are kind, which is a weird and foreign concept to Eduardo, because they ruffle his hair and smile at his childish temper and make cookies for the three of them to share, which his Mom only does if he raises enough money to buy the ingredients. Well, she _said_ that's when she'd make them, but he'd never figured out how to make money.

The cookies are soft and warm and he loves them, so he shoves as many as he can in his mouth. Mark's Mom comes up behind him, and for a second he thinks he's done something wrong. He starts to put some back, half-terrified he's gonna get hurt, or worse, get Mark in trouble, but she grabs his hands, laughing, and he finds the sound kinda pretty.

His Mom never laughs.

"No, no, if you want some more, eat! You and Jon look way too thin. I'll make more for you two to take to your homes, okay? Have fun playing, and be careful!" She says, bright blue eyes soft, blonde hair bouncing as she rushes back to the kitchen. Eduardo's Mom's eyes were the same green he had, but they were always sharp and cold. He watches Jon grab a cookie and look at it with wide eyed wonder, and thinks about how everyone around him is so nice. It's so sickeningly sweet he wants to vomit. But it makes him happy.

That night, his Mom question him about the cookies.

"Mark's mom gave them to me" He says truthfully, and she snatches them out of his hands.

"Room. Now," She says, and he walks up the stairs with an empty stomach.

He kinda wishes he could trade moms, but then Mark would have to deal with his, so he decides to just stay more around Mark's family.

* * *

 

A few nights later, he's sitting on his bed getting ready to sleep, when something crashes through the ceiling and bounces off the bed onto the floor. It groans, getting up and brushing off its...wings? Eduardo's thoroughly shocked, and even more so when it blinks it's six eyes at him before smiling nonchalantly. It's got light brown fur and dark red eyes, and it's wings are tipped white. Its teeth are pointed sharp, and the fur on it's head is pointed up into little triangle shaped horn-looking things.

"Sup," It says, and Eduardo screams. "Whoa! Chill!" It holds its hands out, wings twitching. It has a second mouth under its chin, and it slightly opens when it speaks. Eduardo takes a moment to calm himself.

"What are you?!" He practically shouts, and it lays back on the floor, arms behind its head.

"I'm your guardian angel of course! Name's Todd," It-he?-replies, and Eduardo groans.

"Seriously? Now you show up?!" He complains. "Whatever, I'm going to bed. Don't let anyone know you're here," He's too tired to try and figure this out, so he opts to sleep.

The next day, the supposed guardian angel is still there.

Well, poop.

"If you're gonna be my guardian angel, you can't walk around like that," He says, and Todd nods. He closes all six of his eyes, face focused, before the wings disappear, along with the fur, and Eduardo is staring a a human boy. The brown spiked hair is still on the top of his head, and there are slight little cut-looking marks on his face for the other four hidden eyes, but other than that, Todd looks normal. He's got a polo shirt to match Eduardo's, except the color is the same maroon as his eyes, and he's got blue pants and black tennis shoes.

"Like this?" He asks, smirking with a playfully mischievous expression. It ticks Eduardo off.

"Yeah. Like that," He spits, fuming at the boy's easygoing stance. If anything, Todd's smile gets wider. He still has sharp teeth.

When he and Todd go to meet Mark, Mark's eyes become calculated as he looks over Todd, and Todd actually looks nervous for a second.

"Who's this?" Mark all but demands, and Eduardo can see the clenched fists and how Jon is just barely hidden. Todd's stance relaxes, and he makes himself look as small as possible.

"I'm Todd. I live a little ways from here, and I wanted to play around in the fields. I met Eduardo when I was looking around. Nice to meet you," His voice is placating, in all sense of the word, and his hand is outstretched for a handshake. Mark hesitantly takes it. Todd smiles. "So, who's the little tyke behind you?" He asks, and Jon takes that moment to burst out from behind Mark and tackle Todd in a hug.

"I'm Jon! And my fwiend is Mark!" He shouts, giggling, and Todd's eyes grow wide with joy while softening at the same time.

Eduardo notices that Jon has that effect on others.

_Namely himself, though he wouldn't say it outloud._

"Jon, huh? Nice name. Much better than Eduardo, hmm?" He teases, smirking deliberately at Eduardo, and Eduardo wants to scream but Jon's smiling and laughing so he just pouts, crossing his arms and looking away. Mark is smiling just barely, and Eduardo hates how angry it makes him feel.

Then, after they finish playing, Mark's Mom is so happy to see a new face, and Eduardo hates the attention Todd gets. After all, Todd was _his_ guardian angel, shouldn't he be trying to make _him_ happy? Eduardo highly doubts that Todd is actually an angel. He's more than likely just a reject demon.

At least, he hopes so.

* * *

 

For the next three days Eduardo debates killing Todd.

The so called "Guardian Angel" had let him

A.Get hurt multiple times while playing outside

B.Feel left out of his own friend group

C. _Get hit by his mother with the belt_

The problem is, his friends seem happier with Todd around. Todd is easygoing, willing to play the most inane games with Jon, to talk about the weirdest things with Mark, and he's so polite around any adult that they call him an angel(the irony in that statement makes Eduardo cringe).

But, Eduardo _knows_ that Todd is hiding something, and on the fourth night, he confronts him. Todd is back in his normal form, like he usually is when he's in Eduardo's room, and Eduardo waits for silence before he speaks.

"You're not my Guardian Angel," He says, firm and clear, and Todd stills, tensing.

"Wh-what?" He stammers in reply, and Eduardo finds satisfaction in having the unflappable Todd facade break.

"You're not my Guardian Angel," He repeats, and Todd laughs. The sound is grating to his ears.

"Yeah, I am. I told you I was the day we met, remember?" He questions, and Eduardo smirks.

"What's my full name?" He asks, and Todd jolts.

"Uh..um," The six eyes all look scared.

"A real Guardian Angel should know, right?" He's so happy that he's on top for once, that Todd has no witty comeback.

"Well, yeah, but..." Todd actually stands up, wings fluttering about nervously.

"But what?" Eduardo pushes, and Todd screws all of is eyes shut.

"I....I'm not your Guardian Angel." There's some sort of finality in the statement.

And there's the confession Eduardo was looking for!

"AH HA!" He shouts, grinning wide. "I'm not too surprised, considering how much you suck! Loser! What even are you?!" Todd's eyes are glassy at the words, and Eduardo backpedals, because _oh no there's tears_ he didn't want to make someone _cry._

"I...I used to be an angel living in heaven, but...," Todd's voice sounds so tiny and small, and Eduardo finds a comparison to Jon's. "I fell," It's a whisper. "Someone pushed me, and I fell down here."

Oh.

Well, now Eduardo feels like a jerk.

"I can go, if you want. I like it here, but," Todd fiddles with his claw-like hands, biting his lip. "This is your house, your friends. I'll be fine on my own," It occurs to Eduardo that despite being an angel, Todd is just as much a child as he is. With a sigh, he walks over to Todd, who is still fidgeting and mumbling to himself.

"Okay, so you're not my Guardian Angel, whatever. I don't care. You make my friends happy, so you can stay. Got it?" Todd's eyes are wide, and _aw dang it_ Todd's crying.

"Yeah...," Todd trails off, before wrapping Eduardo in a hug.

The thank you isn't spoken, but Eduardo knows it's there.

* * *

 

The next day, Eduardo asks Mark to take them someplace secluded and hidden. He does, and Eduardo pushes Todd forward.

"Todd here has something to show you guys," Is all he says, and Todd takes in a deep breath.

Eduardo thinks it's really cool how he transforms.

His skin, or well, fake skin, will ripple like water, and then gain an almost golden glow, before slowly dissolving. His wings will appear slowly, a golden shimmer starting from his back to create the shape before filling it in with the brown color of Todd's fur. Then, Todd's chin will expand, bones cracking as the second mouth is inserted into his form. Lastly, his six eyes will open, and he always gives a toothy grin. This time it's a nervous one. "Hi?" He offers, and Mark is frozen in shock. Jon, however squeals with excitement, running in his way-too-big shoes and crawling all over Todd.

"Can you fwy?" He asks, though the l in fly sounds off, and Todd laughs.

"Fly? Of course! I can fly higher than Icarus ever dreamed!" And then he grabs Jon and they're soaring, Jon shrieking in delight. Marks smiling, wider than Eduardo's ever seen, and Eduardo realizes he's smiling too.

Welp, he's gone soft.

Whatever. He likes these guys anyway.

* * *

 

_One year later:_

Tord moves around the boxes stealthily as he makes his way towards the plate of cookies on the table. Dad 1 had made them for the new neighbors. The neighbors weren't monsters, so Dad 2 seemed nervous, but Dad 1 had calmed him down. He reaches up when he gets to the table, his fingers just brushing the cookies, when suddenly he is lifted up and away from his destination.

"Those aren't for you Tord," Dad 1 chuckles, taking him out of the new neighbor's apartment. Tord squirmed in the hold, tail thrashing about.

"Let me down this instant! The great Red Leader commands it!" Tord shouts, desperately trying to break free. Curse the strength of parents! Dad 1 sets him down in front a kid his age, at least he thinks the kid's his age. He's shorter than Tord though, which does wonders for Tord's ego.

"Tord, this is Tom, your new neighbor," Dad 2 says with a strained even tone. Tord knows it's not because Dad 2 hates all humans, its just cause humans scare him. "Hey," Tom says, bright cobalt eyes seemingly staring into him.

"Hello?" Tord says quizzically. Most humans stay away when finding out about his tail and horns, but Tom doesn't seem to care. Tom's small smile turns mischievous as the two sets of parents begin to talk amongst themselves, and he leans in, whispering in Tord's ear.

"Wanna see how many cookies we can snatch before they notice we're gone?" He asks, and Tord grins, sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight.

He has a feeling he's gonna like this 'Tom.'

* * *

 His Dads call them the twin terrors of the apartment building, and Tord finds the name appropriate. They find how to get whatever they want in the craziest of ways, and Tord has more fun than he's ever had before. Tom, however subdued he pretends to be, has great ideas for plans of attack on the other residents.

Nothing too mean-spirited, no.  Tord never wanted to thought of as an evil child. A troublesome one, maybe; an annoying one, sure, but never _evil._ Demons were thought of as evil enough without him adding to the fuel, if the books he's read has anything to say about humans views on them.

On one of the days they're brainstorming, Tom finally brings up Tord's tail and horns.

"So, what are you?" He asks, and Tord always thought the question was rude, but the way Tom says makes it seem almost kind. Tom's questioning is innocently curious, and there's no malice to be found.

"A demon. Incubus to be exact," He says with some sort of pride. From what he heard from his Dads, most monsters were almost ashamed of their species. He decided he would not be one of those monsters. He shifts into his demon form for Tom to see, which is only about six feet tall. He figures it will get bigger when he gets older. He twitches his wings for Tom to notice, and shows off his now two sets of horns that protrude from the goat-like skull that replaced his head. His hooves clack against the wood flooring, and Tom grins at the sight of it all.

"Woah, cool! Aren't you guys immortal or something?" Tom's excitement was almost contagious, and Tord smiles, before quickly becoming confused.

"Immortal?" He questions, shifting back. It's a word he's not familiar with. Tom nods.

"Yeah, you know, you don't die," He explains, and Tord takes a moment to think on the implications of that. His eyes widen.

"Gotta go Tom! See ya tomorrow!" He shouts behind his back, running towards his apartment. Tom seems confused, but doesn't call after him. He bursts inside, and the two men standing in the room stop.

_Gross, they're doing that thing where they lick each others faces, except they didn't shift._

"Dad, am I immortal?" He demands, looking at both of them with an intensity he hasn't ever had before. His tail twitches about, and Dad 1 walks up to him. The one green eye that stares at him is comforting, filled with concern and love.

"Yes, you are," He confirms, and Tord shakes.

Oh.

He thinks he gets why some monsters don't like being monsters.

He tries not to think about it for the next few days; the fact that he lives forever and everyone he knows does not. Tom, for the most part, tries to cheer him up when he gets kinda sad, but Tom never wanted to be a therapist, and Tord doesn't ask him to be.

They try out a stunt, because Tord hasn't been bringing up any ideas and Tom's getting restless. Tom wants to know how strong Tord's tail is, so they decide to wrap Tom in the tail and see if Tord can dangle him from the two-story building.

In hindsight, they should have known it would have ended badly.

Tom jumps off the railing, and Tord is yanked back, causing them to both fall to the ground.Tom's head hits the pavement with a sickening crack, and Tord screams. Paul and Patryk appear in an instant, wrapping Tom and Tord in their arms and taking them to the apartment, Patryk cursing under his breath. Patryk works on Tom, while Paul holds Tord close and lets the amazing power of touch-sense healing do its work.

"How could you guys think to do that?!" Paul's voice is angry and scared, and Tord shrinks under the one-eyed glare.

"Sorry Dad," He mumbles, and Paul makes a low growling sound. Tord feels Paul's hands shake, and his tail droops.

"Well, you can stay sorry during your three weeks grounding," He grumbles, and Tord sighs, too tired to complain.

Tom still hasn't woken up, and Tord can see blood on the cloth Patryck is wrapping around Tom's head.

It's here he learns the fragility of the human body, staring at Tom's still form.

He isn't aware that he's crying until Paul wipes the tears off of his cheeks and kisses him softly on the forehead, ruffling his hair.

He's tired.

He closes his eyes and sleeps.

When Tom does wake up after a few hours, his cobalt eyes are gone, and what's left is an empty void of black. Tord doesn't know how to apologize.

* * *

 

He takes the three weeks stuck in his room to plan. He's always been smart when it comes to math, so the equations come quick to the forefront to his mind. In big letters, he writes three words at the top at the page.

Man Made Immortality.

For three weeks, he works his brain to its breaking point, writing formula after formula, trying to find some cure for human mortality. The fact that humans die while demons live forever was stupid anyway. If you could make a species live forever, why not make every species live forever so as to allow species to intermingle without fear of inevitable loss?

Not that he feared loss, no. He just wanted his friend to stick around, that's all. Plus, immortality was a great apology gift, right?

At the end of the third week, he thinks he has the solution.

He sneaks into the secret lab his Dads had made. Dad 2 was kind of a science nerd like Tord, and had a chemistry lab added to the apartment. Fortunately, Tord had found keys to the door.  Dad 2 was never good at hiding things.

He brought Tom along, finally allowed to invite his friend over, though Tom seemed almost nervous to try and become imrtal.

"You sure this will work?" He asks, and Tord shrugs.

"No, not really. I did the math though, so I think it should," Tord's nerves are buzzing, but he doesn't let it show. He sneaks Tom into the lab with relative ease, since Paul and Patryk went out to buy groceries. "I just have to mix up the ingredients," He says, picking up the chemicals carefully. Tom watches warily from the sidelines, hesitant when it comes to the many different liquids Tord shows him. As Tord is finishing, Tom speaks up.

"Um, what if I don't...want to be immortal?" He asks and Tord laughs.

"Why wouldn't you? It means you and I can hang out forever!" He shouts,maybe a little hysterical, but Tom just sighs. Tord wants to stop, because he has a sinking feeling in his stomach, but all he can think of is headstones and the feeling of loneliness he felt when finding out that everyone around him were only temporary while he was forced into an existence of eternity, and so he presses on, finishing the bright purple potion with a drop of a blue chemical he can't remember the name of.

"I guess," Tom mumbles for a reply to his earlier question, and Tord jumps down from the table, handing Tom over the vial.

"Drink it!"

"Really?" Tom questions, and Tord nods vehemently. _This will work_ , He thinks.

_It has to!_

Tom shakes the vial, staring at the glowy liquid with an almost fearful expression, before drinking it under Tord's frantic gaze. Tom coughs as it goes burning down his throat.

"Tord?" Tom questions, and Tord realizes his expression is one of fear, because Tom's veins are glowing bright purple underneath his skin, and _that wasn't supposed to happen what is going on_. Tom doubles over, groaning, and his veins grow brighter, and Tord starts to hear bones cracking and popping and he knows something is terribly wrong.

"TO̷r̴D͘?̴ ̀T̛hI̷s͘ HU̢r̸tS," Tom's voice is distorting, and Tord is desperately trying to figure out what made this happen because the formula should have been perfect, but Tom's growing claws and his skin is turning a dark shade of almost-black and he's growing a tail and the two eyes Tord had earlier stolen the colors from are converging into one.

"T̷̕͏Ǫ̷R̶͟҉D̵̢̛̛͠!" Tom screams, and then he roars, and Tord doesn't know what to do as his friend falls to the ground, convulsing and shifting into something big. In mere moments, Tom is replaced by something else. Tord cannot find a word to describe it other than monster. Said monster sniffs the air, baring it's sharp teeth at Tord as it makes its way over, growling.

"Tom?" Tord just barely manages to get the word out that was stuck in his throat, but all i seems to do is draw more attention from the monster that has stolen his friend. He needs to shift so he can protect himself, but all he can see is the void eye glaring into his own, and he can barely breathe and the monster starts to charge.

He screams.

The two wolves that are his parents crash in through the door, barreling into the monster and knocking it over. The two circle it and growl, but the monster seems unperturbed by the advances, and it charges them.

Tord watches from the sidelines as the three fight, before realizing that his parents are the ones fighting, and they're fighting _Tom._

He wants to scream and cry because he's been referring to the monster as someone else, because he didn't want to admit that the monster is Tom and he's the reason Tom is the monster.

He shifts, and he runs into Tom so hard that Tom crashes into the wall, thoroughly knocked out.  He shifts back just a quickly as he shifted and runs over to Tom, who slowly seems to shift back himself, bones making the same horrible cracking noises as they create a human skeleton once more. Paul and Patryk make their way over after they shift back, and by the time they are where Tord is, Tord is holding Tom in his arms, and he swears he isn't crying but he is and Tom isn't moving. Paul tries to grab Tord's arm, but Tord smacks his hand with his tail.

"Go AWAY!" He shouts, all the while begging for it to be a nightmare because if it is he'd like to wake please right now would be the best time _so if you could please?_

**_Please?_ **

Nothing happens.

He's still holding Tom in his arms.

His Dads are still staring at him in disbelief.

He still hurt his best friend.

Paul and Patryk kneel down and wrap their arms around him, and he hugs Tom and cries.

He whispers a million apologies, but doesn't know if any of them are heard.

* * *

  _At the same time:_

Eduardo is finally getting used to being treated right. His mother never hit him as much, now that they had a steady income. Once, he actually saw the green eyes he shared with her soften the tiniest fraction, if only for a moment, before she went back to berating him for leaving to go play without telling her. Her hair fell in dark curls around her, but she had black hair as opposed to his dark brown. He imagines that she looked pretty when she was younger, and maybe that's why his Dad liked her.

He couldn't find any other good qualities about her.

Todd is a regular in his room. He had found an old mattress and put it down so Todd could sleep on it. The fallen angel has found a love for food, and the fact that he has a huge appetite doesn't really hep Eduardo when he has to save half of his meal for him.

The other day they'd found an apple tree, and Eduardo had spent about ten minutes trying to climb it before Todd had laughed and flew up to the top of it. They'd eaten a lot of the apples when Mark and Jon had joined them, laughing at the two's bickering.

Speaking of Jon, the now six year-old had been looking more and more disheveled than before. He still had the same happy smile on his face, but sometimes he would doze off, and he always looked hungry.

Secretly, when no one is looking, Eduardo gives Jon the cookies Mark's Mom would always make, because Jon deserved much more than the life given to him.

Surprisingly, Eduardo finds that Todd does the same thing.

Jon is smiling wider than ever one day, saying he's going on a trip with his family, a rare treat, and Eduardo smiles and ruffles is hair, telling him to stay out of trouble, and Jon giggles and nods, bouncing on the shoes that finally fit him.

The next time Eduardo sees Jon, it's in a closed coffin.

* * *

 Todd wakes him up one night, eyes wide and fur matted.

"Come on, I found a way to fix it!" He says, dragging Eduardo out the window, large wings just barely carrying the two of them. Once Eduardo is properly awake, he screams.

"Todd! Where the hell are we going!" He shouts, but Todd isn't listening, wings flapping as fast as they can until they reach their destination. Jon's grave. It's a simple headstone with Jon's name on it. Underneath the name are the words 'An Angel', along with two ornate wings and a halo. Eduardo finds it fitting. "Why are we here?!" He yells, trying to hold back tears as he says so. Todd is smiling, and it looks strained.

"I just remembered the spell for resurrection! I can bring back Jon!" Todd's claws look unnaturally sharp in comparison to the dull points of before, but Eduardo just pays attention to the last words Todd spoke.

"Really?" He whispers in awe, and Todd nods, eyes shining. Eduardo steps back and lets Todd do what he need to, eyes glued on the grave. Todd's wings glow golden, and his hands spark with energy as he focuses.

" **SURGE, JON VIVERE**!" Todd voice booms in Latin, and Eduardo takes a moment to realize how Todd, no matter how much he is a child, still has the power of God. The golden light strikes the grave with a force that shakes the earth. Eduardo stumbles, but manages to regain his footing.

They wait.

Nothing happens.

Eduardo's hope shatters.

Todd is frantically searching the surrounding area, mumbling to himself, and Eduardo clenches his fists, walking away. When Todd notices him leaving, he calls out to him, desperately yelling.

"No, Eduardo, it should have worked! I don't-I can do this!" Eduardo continues his trek, pretending not to notice the tears streaming down Todd's, or the tears on his own.

Todd doesn't show up in the morning. Or the next morning, or even the morning after that, but Eduardo doesn't care.

**_~~He does.~~ _ **

* * *

 Mark seems more...distant, since Jon died, and Eduardo doesn't really blame him. Jon was Mark's first friend, before anyone else, and as much Eduardo likes to pretend that they can get along without him, they usually end up bickering more often than having fun.

It's a testament to what Jon was to the both of them, and Eduardo wants to scream.

"I'm going to the city with my parents tomorrow," Mark says one day as they eat cookies. They don't taste the same anymore, but Mark's Mom still makes them, so Eduardo eats them anyway.

"What for?" He asks, and Mark's face screws up in concentration as he focuses on remembering.

"It's some sort of...monster rights rally? I think?" Mark sounds confused as he says it, and Eduardo nods.

"Sounds boring," He says, and Mark shrugs.

Eduardo doesn't see Mark again.

At least, he doesn't see Mark alive.

* * *

 At the funeral, Mark's Mom shakes, the grip on her handkerchief tight as she walks up to the podium and speaks about her son. She barely makes it through the speech, and walks fast back to her seat.

She's far more emotional than Jon's parents were, who just stood and watched silently as Jon's coffin was buried.

Eduardo walks up to her in his little black suit that came with a dark green tie and holds her hand, because she's the nicest person he's ever met and he wants her to be happy.

When he does, she's straining herself to stay composed, and she turns to look at him with a trembling smile, as though to comfort him.

She looks at him, at the tears he's holding back, and wraps her hands around him, sobbing.

Eduardo cries some more, because that's all he can do in situations like this, and hugs her back.

* * *

 When he wakes up that night after a nightmare, Todd is back, and he's in front of Mark's freshly made grave.

"Todd?! What the hell?!" He screams, and Todd smiles at him, the expression almost deranged.

"I waited too long, that's why it didn't work! This time it'll work!" Todd's wings glow bright gold again, and before Eduardo can say anything else, Todd's casting the spell and the earth shakes again. For a moment, nothing happens. Then, a hand reaches up from the grave, and Eduardo scrambles to grab it, pulling Mark out of the dirt before he can even comprehend that **_Mark just got resurrected._ **

Todd's laying down of the ground, panting, but he smirks at Eduardo and gets up after a few moments.

"Eduardo?" Mark mumbles, still not fully lucid, and Eduardo laughs and hugs Mark with all his might. Todd looks ready to join in on the hug, but then there's a flash of bright light, and two much larger and very angry looking angels are staring down at Todd with disappointment.

" **Toddias, you are under arrest for the illegal resurrection of a mortal** ," One of the two speaks, and Todd shrinks under their gazes, before smiling mischievously. 

"Eduardo, take care of Mark for me, okay?" He whispers for Eduardo to hear, before speeding off. "Gotta catch me first!" He shouts behind him, laughing the whole time, and the two other angels don't even spare Eduardo and Mark a glance before flying after Todd.

Eduardo stares at them for a long time, still staring even when Mark wakes up fully, and doesn't look away until the three specks disappear completely from view.

"Eddie?" A familiar voice calls, and Eduardo turns.

His jaw drops at the figure who speaks.

* * *

 

_Somewhere else just a few months later:_

Matt wakes up in front of an enormous building. He doesn't know where he is or why he's here, but he does know his name is Matt, and he clings onto the memory like a lifeline.

He doesn't know where to go, so he sits for a while. He tries to walk out into the sun, but his face hurts when he does, so he decides to stay in the shade. His dark green coat is way too big for him, but there's something familiar about the fabric, so he keeps it on. Plus, it goes great with his purple hoodie, and fashion is always important.

After a while, a lady with a bright colored beanie complete with big ears that stick up makes her way up to building, wearing some weird work clothing. She notices him as she walks to the front door, and crouches down to his level.

"Hey, the school doesn't open up for another hour or so, so you might want to go home for a bit. Where are your parents?" She asks, and he notices her name tag, which reads 'Kat'. Above, there's a pin that says Janitor on it, though he doesn't know what a Janitor is.

"Parents?" He's never heard that word before, and doesn't know the meaning. She squints at him, a though looking for something, and he flashes a grin at her.

"Well, that to the 'point'," She mumbles, chuckling for some reason. Ruffling his hair, she stands up. "Wait here a sec. I need to make a call."

* * *

 

After a huge round of questions from some nice people in nice outfits, including ones such as ' _How did you get here_?' _'Who are you?_ ' ' _Do you know you're a vampire_?' and other questions Matt doesn't know the answer too, Matt gets enrolled in the building, which turns out to be a school. He becomes a 'ward of state' according the people in nice outfits, but since he's a monster, it would be safer to have him in an environment with other monsters than placing him in the foster system. Matt doesn't really understand it all, but he's glad to be staying at the school, as odd as it is.

Looking in the mirror, he changes his ratty brown pants for dark blue jeans and puts on a new pair of black sneakers. Since there were so many different breeds coming, the school didn't have a uniform, giving Matt free reign on what to wear.

He keeps the purple hoodie and green overcoat, but changes his t-shirt. Smiling, he takes notice of his sharp canines. He pokes one with his finger, wincing as he draws blood accidentally. He quickly brushes his hair and runs to the classroom he was assigned.

* * *

 

As he made his way in, he found an assortment of children sitting at their desks and chatting. A group of three seem to stick together in the back, and a group of two up by the front, though one looks more unhappy than the other.  There are others sitting by themselves, but he gravitates towards the group of two. He decides to sit on the other side of the unhappy one, just because the happy one kinda scares him. The bell rings, and he stares up at the teacher expectantly, surprised to find it's the lady from before.

"Hello class, I'll be your homeroom teacher today, since the last one kicked the bucket over the summer and we didn't get notice 'till yesterday,' She says, smirking. "Boy, this is one _monstrously_ sized class, hmm?" A few of the kids groan. "Anyway, I'm Ms.Kat, welcome to your first day at Golden Monster Academy. Would someone like to come up and introduce themselves?" She ask, and Matt's hand shoots up. She raises an eyebrow, but nods at him, and he skips up to the front.

"Hi, I'm-" A wave of pain makes its way through his head as he speaks, but he continues. "I'm Matthew Harvest, but you can call me Matt.  I'm seven and three quarter years old," He flashes off his sharp teeth. "I'm a vampire!" He says, before making his way back to his desk. A wave of dizziness hits him as he realizes he's been given new information from his amnesia ridden brain. He hadn't known his full name before! Or his age! He smiles, and Ms. Kat looks ready to call someone else up, when a boy runs into the classroom.

"Sorry I'm late! My Mum wouldn't let me go without a proper and goodbye and she took to long so-" The newcomer cuts himself off and rubs the back of his neck nervously. Ms.Kat smiles.

"No prob kid. Why don't you come up here and introduce yourself?" She says, and the kid sets his stuff down on the desk next to Matt's.

"Hi!" The kid says, and the first thing Matt notices are the electric green eyes that glow brightly. "I'm Edward Gold," Edward smiles, and Matt finds himself smiling too. "But everyone calls me Edd."


	2. Our world lost the ability to feel free

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG my computer broke and my old one is kinda crappy and then i lost 3k words and i lost interest for a while and idk when the next chapter is gonna be out but I have a blog on tumblr you can send questions too it @askthekiddosau so pls check it out and enjoy!

Edd really doesn’t like the fact that everyone defines him by his lineage.

Sure, he’s part of a line of powerful magicians that may or may not have been the only few magic families to survive the witch hunts, and sure, his Gran-Gran founded the first Academy made specifically to help monster kind as a whole and she also fought for monster rights, but he was still himself!

And besides, it’s not like he has any magic anyway.

With a sigh, he shifts on his bed to get comfortable, before continuing with the drawing he was working on. Forget magic, he wanted to be a superhero! He scribbles in the explosion behind his persona when a particular insect appears in his line of sight.

“AHH, BEE!”

His eyes flash, unbeknownst to him, and the world goes white.

After a moment, color returns and he blinks, noticing the sudden draft.

_Wait, where did one of the walls go?_

His Mother bursts through the door, looking as though she had run a mile, hair frazzled and chest heaving as she pants.

“EDWARD!”

_Oh no._

* * *

After all of the scolding, surprise, and finally the conclusion that Edd did indeed possess some sort of magical power, he sits still and listens to his Gran-Gran and his mother argue.

“Why does he need to go to that school if I am here to teach him?”

“ _Because_ , Mom, that school is full of people his age who understand him and teachers who are better equipped to handle his powers if they go out of control! He blew through a wall! By _ACCIDENT_!” Edd’s Mother’s voice rises to near hysterical levels, and he winces. It wasn’t like he’d tried to do it, but saying that only seemed to make it worse.

“I wouldn’t mind if you had let me continue to teach there!”

“You were going to work yourself to death! I was just making sure you didn’t die before meeting your grandson!” Gran-Gran frowns, but then her face melts into an even smile.

“Fine. He can go, but first let me speak to him,” Gran-Gran decides, and Edd’s Mother seems surprised at the sudden shift of tone, but nods.

“Edward, honey? Grandma wants to talk to you,” Edd runs in at his Mother’s call, smiling nervously as his Mother leaves the room. Gran-Gran scowls at where Edd’s Mother exits, but smiles warmly at Edd, bright green eyes glinting.

“This school I founded, the one you are going to, will be full of interesting people. Be good there, learn much, and I will visit occasionally, alright?” She asks him, and he nods. She sighs, wheeling herself out of the room, leaving Edd to his thoughts.

The school sounded interesting, sure, but he’s barely shown any power before now, so what if they thought he was too weak to go there, or worse, the kids there found the connection between him and the school founder! He wants real friends, not fakes! He moves up to his room, looking at the now missing wall.

_He’d done that?_

It seemed impossible to imagine. He lays down on his bed and sighs, wondering what the new school would be like. His cat, Ringo, jumps on him, and he smiles.

“Hey there Ringo. Wanna see if Mom’ll let me bring you to my new school?” He asks, and the grey tabby does nothing but blink in reply, leaving Edd to grab the cat and run to his Mother’s room, feet stomping against the ground as he works on his mission.

* * *

 

Just a few days later:

He’s looking up at the intimidating, heart pounding because of how it seems to loom over him. He wonders if it’s because his Gran-Gran has no sense of design.

His Mother’s hand rests on his shoulder, and the grip tightens for a moment.

“You be good, alright? Behave,” She says to him, squatting down to hug him and place a kiss on his forehead. Her dark brown hair that matches his own brushes against his cheek, and she smiles, though he can tell from her expression that she’s worried. The bell rings.

“AH, I’M LATE!” He cries, and the moment is lost as he runs into the building. “Bye Mum!” He calls behind him, looking back to see her wave, before running headlong down the hallway.

When he finally makes to the classroom, introduces himself, and gets to his seat, he takes note of those around him. There are a few were-creatures, including the teacher, but also some others he doesn’t know the species of. Perhaps more magic users are around? He sits next to the kid with bright blue eyes that had smiled at him during his introduction.

“Hi! I’m Matt!” The ginger says, and Edd smiles, noting the sharp teeth Matt sports. Vampire then? It would explain the pale skin, though he always thought Vampires were like the ones in old movies he’d watch when Gran-Gran wasn’t home. Dark haired, dark clothed, red eyes, ect. Matt seems to be opposite of all of those, besides the skin color.

Gran-Gran never liked the old horror films.

“A disgrace to all of monster-kind, that’s what those horrible movies are,” She’d say. “They bring nothing but fear towards people who want nothing more than to live their lives peacefully as themselves, without having to worry about people shrieking whenever they step outside of their homes. I knew a poor were-wolf boy who suffered from that fear, and Golden Academy saved his life. He’s fine now, met another were-wolf and they’ve got a family somewhere, but still. Don’t let me catch you watching those, or I’ll bring you to that man and have him explain to you just what films like those helped create.”

He never met the man, and after that talk, he’d tried to stay away from them, though the Insane Zombie Pirates from Hell series always got him to turn on the television.

Back to the present, he takes in the appearance to the boy beside Matt before replying. The boy is wearing a dark blue hoodie, and he’s got multiple piercings on his ears, along with long spiky tan hair that stands straight up. Edd wouldn’t have though the boy was any sort of monster, if not for the pitch-black seemingly void-like eyes and the small purple horns that peek out of the spiky hair. The boy also has a silver sippy cup that he drinks from almost religiously. He’s extremely tiny in comparison to Matt, but Matt is pretty tall, and towers even over Edd, though not to the point of being ridiculous. Edd would think that such a big person would be scary, but Matt seems to be embracing the idea of ‘gentle giant’, if the wide innocent eyes and sweet smile have anything to with Matt’s personality. He moves his eyes back to Matt, who is still waiting patiently for a response, now with his hand out. Edd takes the hand and shakes it, feeling very grown-up doing so.

“Hello! I’m Edd, though I guess you know that already,” He rubs the back of his head sheepishly blushing. Gran-Gran always said that first impressions were everything, and if that’s true, he’s pretty sure Matt thinks he’s a dork. “It’s nice to meet you!” He continues, and Matt’s smile gets wider.

“You too!” Edd’s sure Matt is going to say more, but Ms.Kat calls up the boy sitting next to Matt to introduce himself. Edd hadn’t even noticed that during their conversation, more people had come up and spoke about themselves. The mysterious blue clothed boy makes his way up, and Edd notices that his shoes are checkerboard in color, and that there seems to be a perpetual small frown on the boy’s face.

“I’m Thomas Redwood. Call me Tom,” Tom’s voice is surprisingly tired and dead for someone so young, Edd muses. He usually hears that tone of voice in adults, primarily teachers. The next person to be called up is the boy sitting next to Tom, who Edd finds particularly interesting, given the boy’s unusual appearance. He’s got pitch black ram like horns that end in sharp points, and a redish-black tail that has black feathers at its point. The tail twitches about like it has a mind of its own, and Edd wonders if it does. The light brown hair the boy has shoots out in points at the bottom, an at the top there are to horn like-curves, and Edd wonders how much hair gel the boy uses to have such a hairstyle. He’s wearing a bright red hoodie and dark grey pants, along with black shoes that Edd notice match Matt’s.

“I’m Tord Luvart,” The boy says proudly with some sort of accent Edd’s not familiar with, chest puffing out, though after looking in the direction of Tom, Tord seems to deflate. Edd looks over to Tom, and sees the boy is now scowling, grip on the sippy cup tight. Tord gives a half-hearted grin, as though trying to still remain on top of things, and Edd sees sharp teeth, before walking back to his seat, looking determinedly in the opposite direction from Tom. Ms.Kat doesn’t seem to notice the tension, or at least if she does she doesn’t do anything about seating arrangements.

“Anyone else?” She asks, and a bright blue blur zooms up to the front of the room, and a little floating boy waves at everyone, a big smile on his face. He’s wearing a polo shirt and dress shoes, and his entire body is a light blue color, save for his eyes, which are black like Toms, but smaller.

“Hi, I’m Jon! It’s nice to meet you all! I’m a ghost by the way!” Jon’s demeanor is kind and welcoming, and Edd’s happy to see such an innocent face, but at the same time, he wonders how someone so young could die and remain a spirit. A hand shoots up, and Edd turns to see who it is. It’s a girl, wearing a red beanie, with light brown hair and pretty eyes.

“How’d you die?” She asks, eyes wide and curious, and Edd hears someone slam their hands on their desk, so he tries to find the source. In the corner, a boy wearing dark green polo with dark brown hair, darker than Edd’s, glares at the girl who asked the question. Oh, the boy is also glowing. Edd’s attention moves back to Jon, who is fidgeting in midair.

“Well, umm, you see…,” Jon seems to glitch, almost, red outlines forming over his light blue exterior, sharp teeth appearing and eyes turning red for just a second. “It was an accident,” Jon mutters, previous smile gone, and for a moment Edd sees blood on Jon’s left side, but it disappears just as quickly as it appeared.

“Well, that’s something _ghastly,_ hmm?” Edd thinks Ms.Kat is trying to light the mood, but she fails. Horribly.

Jon floats slowly back to the corner where the other polo-shirted kid is, but sits above a boy with big blue glasses and a butt chin. The kid says something to Jon, who smiles just barely, but after that Jon just stares out of the window, despondent. The girl who asked the question has the decency to look ashamed, and Edd doesn’t particularly blame her, since he most likely would have asked the question sooner or later. Ms.Kat clears her throat before speaking.

“Well, I didn’t really have anything for the period, since, you know, I’m the impromptu sub, but there’s plenty of games for you guys to play, so have at it,” She says, before taking a seat and taking out a book called ‘Fifty Breeds of Cat.’

Weird.

Matt pulls on Edd’s sleeve, and Edd turns to look at him.

“C’mon, let’s see what we can play with!” Matt drags him over to the play area. There are some books, along with legos and other toys, but Edd is drawn to the art supplies. He starts to mess with the paints, while Matt takes out the books and looks in them, only to be confused by the words. “Edd, how do you read?” He asks, and Edd walks away from the painting and starts to move through the letters, listening as Matt repeats them, sitting in the middle of laughing and playing children as the words slowly come together.

It’s a start of something, but Edd isn’t sure what yet.

He doesn’t seem to mind though.

* * *

They have a short break in between each class, around twenty minutes, since school doesn’t actually end until dinner time, considering the fact that it’s a boarding school, and Matt looses Edd for just a moment and finds himself alone in a hallway. The letters and numbers are slowly moving back into focus now that the lesson Edd started with him brought back some sort of memory. He knows that he knows them, but it’s like someone tore them away from his brain and left them floating around his head, and now that he’s started relearning them, his brain has to catch them all back. He’s hit with another dizzy spell, and leans against the wall to steady himself.

“Shut up! Leave me alone!” He hears Jon’s echoing voice around the corner, and makes his way over. What he sees makes his heart nearly skip a beat. Jon’s pretty blue exterior is showered in red outlines that shimmer and glitch about, and the kind soft black eyes have also turned a dark red. There’s a dark hole on the left side of Jon’s chest that seems to be perpetually bleeding. Jon’s wailing, and the objects around him, a few papers and pens, swirl around him in a frenzy. Matt likens it to be a tantrum, and it only seems to be getting worse, as one of the pencils strikes him in the face, leaving a cut on his cheek.

“ ** _YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING! GO AWAY_**!” Jon screams, fists clenched, tears streaming down his face and floating in the air. Some adults show up, Ms.Kat included, with some sort of device, and they move to use it on Jon, but some kid in a turtle-neck shows up, along with a guy in a dark-green polo.

“Hey, quit it!” The glowing boy’s eyes flash, and he pushes past all the teachers with relative ease, while the other boy tries to grab the machine that Ms.Kat is holding.

“JON! HEY, DOWN HERE!” Jon looks down for just a second, glaring, but it’s enough to keep the ghost’s attention.

“Eduardo? “ Jon seems surprised, eyes wide, and the wind dies down just slightly. Eduardo frowns, seemingly annoyed by the whole ordeal.

“What do you think you’re doin’?! We’re gonna be late for class, stupid!” Eduardo scolds Jon, and Matt winces, ready from another gust of wind or another wail, but Jon just floats down slowly, the pencils and papers falling to the floor.

“I didn’t mean to…you could’ve gone without me. I was just…sorry,” Jon seems almost embarrassed, and when he moves to hug Eduardo, Matt’s heart aches when he sees Jon’s arms go straight through Eduardo’s body. Jon notices this as well, moves away, hands held close to his chest as though to stop them from reaching out, trying and failing to keep a smile on his face. Eduardo’s face contorts into something unreadable, before he sighs.

“C’mon, let’s go,” He mutters, walking past the adults, but not before glaring at all of them. Jon and the other kid follow close behind. Matt rubs the cut on his cheek and groans slightly in discomfort, before moving to class as well.

* * *

The classroom is titled ‘Magic Studies’, and Matt takes great pride in being able to read what’s off the board. The teacher is a man wearing a black polo shirt, along with khaki pants and steel tipped brown shoes that clack as he walks across the wood floor. He has long cherry-red hair pulled back into a ponytail, and sharp purple eyes. On his nose, there is a pair of oval shaped red-rimmed glasses that match his hair, and he pushes them up with his middle finger before speaking.

“Hello class. I am your teacher Mr.Tacet,” Mr.Tacet’s voice is low and soft, with a gravelly edge to it. “In this class, we will learn about the evolution of magic, and the science behind it. Those who have magic will learn better how to use it, and those who do not will learn how to stop magic from attacking them,” The words are spoken with no emotion, like a robot is speaking rather than a person. Edd bounces about in his seat, fidgeting nervously, and Matt finds it kinda cute. “Matthew Harvest?” Mr.Tacet calls, and Matt sits up straight in his seat.

“Here!” He shouts quickly, and the class giggles. Mr.Tacet’s eyes become calculative as they scan over Matt, and Matt stands perfectly still.

“What’s that cut on your cheek?” He asks, and Matt blushes in embarrassment at the attention.

“Um, just I scratch I got from falling on the way here,” He lies, trying to spare Jon some dignity. Besides, he doesn’t really want to explain the entire thing anyway.

“Come here,” Mr.Tacet almost demands, and Matt walks up to the front. Mr.Tacet places a hand on the cut, and his eyes glow for a moment, along with the hand placed on Matt’s cheek. After a moment, the glow dies out, and Mr.Tacet removes his hand. Upon inspection, Matt realizes the cut on his cheek has disappeared. He walks back to his seat, and the students murmur around him.

Mr.Tacet clears his throat, and the class is silenced. “There are two main types of magic. They are Practical and Oppositional,” He writes the two names on the board in some weird mixture of cursive and normal handwriting, which Matt finds pretty, before turning back to the class, who are all listening with an intense curiosity. Matt takes a moment to look over at Edd, and finds him writing notes with rapt attention. “Other such types of magic fall under these two large designations. However, some can fall under both, depending on the circumstance and usage. For example, Fire magic. Lighting a fire to stay warm,” There is a spark of fire in Mr.Tacet’s open palm, and the light sways back and forth in an almost alluring way, the shadows it casts on Mr.Tacet’s face making his face look haunting. Mr.Tacet’s eyes still glow, but the glow seems so unnaturally predatory, and it sends shivers down Matt’s spine. The fire slowly flickers away after a moment, and the class awaits Mr.Tacet’s next performance. “Practical. Sending a blast of fire to burn something or someone in your way,” Mr.Tacet takes out a piece of paper and tosses it in the air. The moment after he let’s go of the paper, his eyes flash brightly once again, and fire shoots out of his palm, striking the paper with trained precision. The ashes fall to the floor. “Oppositional.”

The class is speechless, and Matt finds himself included with them. Edd, when Matt looks at him, has his hands clutching the paper he wrote his notes, and his eyes are wide with an emotion Matt can’t place. Mr.Tacet smirks, and once again Matt finds the teacher terrifying. “In this class you will learn where each type of magic falls, and how they are used. This class will not teach you to use magic, so there will be no magic allowed in this class except for demonstration. If I find someone using magic in this class,” Mr.Tacet’s eyes find their way to Edd, and Matt sees Edd flinch. “I will have to take more drastic measures in ensuring that magic does not find its way into my classroom,” Mr.Tacet finishes. Matt fidgets in his chair, wishing to be able to move about.

Mr.Tacet clears his throat once more, and starts a new lesson, seeming uninterested at the fact that it is the first day of school and that he is surrounded by six to eight year-olds. “Now, when I used magic to fix the cut on Matthew’s cheek, what type of magic was I using, and what branch does it fall under?” A girl in a hoodie with glasses raises her hand, and Matt takes note of the tortoiseshell cat sitting on her desk. She looks nervous when asking, hand shaking slightly. When her hand is pointed at, she fidgets with her glasses before speaking.

“Healing? And wouldn’t that be Practical?” She asks, and Mr.Tacet smiles, which seems to ease the girl’s tremors. This time, it’s a kind one, and Matt appreciates not being scared out of his wits by it.

“Wrong at the first one, but right with the second. I used _Regenerative_ magic. I regenerated the cells on Matthew’s skin in order to close the wound. Healing would be technically correct, but the term is very broad, and I was looking for a more specific answer,” He replies, and the girl nods. Eduardo raises a hand, and Matt realizes it’s the first time Eduardo has shown any interest in the two different classes they’ve been in.

“Could Regenerative magic regenerate anything? Even…a life?” He asks, and Mr.Tacet frowns slightly.

“What you’re speaking of is Necromancy, which is the raising of the dead, and that type of magic falls under Oppositional, since you are essentially opposing death. Regenerative magic speeds a natural body process, in the regard that the human body regenerates cells. With Matthew, I had to temporarily change his bodily make up, and essentially bring the skin around his cut back to life, since a vampire normally doesn’t regenerate cells because they are partly dead. However, bringing a whole person back to life without complication would be near impossible, and even then they wouldn’t be fully alive,” Eduardo looks almost angry at the answer, and they boy next to him, the one with the turtleneck, looks shaken. Jon doesn’t have any reaction, other than to pat the turtleneck boy’s back, though Matt sees once again that his hand is going through. “Any more questions? Now that I think about it, any more questions regarding me as your teacher? As this is the first day, I want to get introductions out of the way,” Mr.Tacet looks over the class, as though memorizing each face, and points at each hand that shoots up.

“What’s your full name?”

“William Vladimir Tacet,” The class giggles at the middle name, and Mr.Tacet sighs.

“How old are you?”

“43.”

“What type of magic do you use the most?”

“I specialize in Regenerative magic, but can use most any spell, if given the time to learn it.”

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Orange.”

“Are you married?”

“No.”

“Why’d you become a teacher?”

The question causes Mr.Tacet to go stiff, and the child who asked it shrinks in their seat. Mr.Tacet sighs, and takes off his glasses, setting them down on his desk before speaking.

“I was born in a family that had no magic talent or knowledge. When I was found to have magic ability, they sought to ‘get rid of it’, for fear of me hurting them with my magic,” The bitterness in Mr.Tacet’s voice is sharp and biting. “They sent me to a psychiatric ward, where I was repeatedly told, over the course of several years, that magic was _wrong_ , that I should not use it, and that _I_ was wrong to have it. I was told so many times that I believed it whole-heartedly, and every time I had an outburst of magical energy due to my lack of using it, I would punish myself by refusing to eat for a week.”

The muscles in Mr.Tacet’s throat are tight, and he takes a moment to relax before continuing. The class waits with bated breath for him to finish, and the room is so silent you could hear a pin drop. “After over four years, a woman, one known as Mrs.Gold to the world, came to get me. She took me to this very room, undid everything those psychiatrists did, made me feel happy with my magic, and turned me into the man I am today. Without her, I most likely would have died from the stress of keeping my magic in check. Magic needs an outlet, or else it consumes the user, burning them from the inside out,” Edd takes in a sharp breath upon hearing those words, and Matt sees the pieces of notepaper fall to floor. “My parents knew nothing of this fact. Lack of knowledge led them to send me away, and I do not wish to let lack of knowledge _hurt_ anyone else, so when I graduated, I took this job,” Mr.Tacet finishes, and the class is once again speechless.

“What happened to your parents?” Matt doesn’t realize he’s asking the question until the words tumble out of his mouth, and Mr.Tacet’s eyes lock onto his own with an intensity that makes Matt tremble, but then the eyes soften.

“They were arrested for child abuse. Mrs.Gold fought the court case, and the evidence of the psychological torment placed upon me was enough to put them in prison. My brothers and sisters were put under my Uncle’s custody, and he soon got custody of me after Mrs.Gold found him a suitable parent,” Mr.Tacet smiles almost fondly at the memory. “Mrs.Gold was so angry during the court case. The judge almost let my parents go, but she fought so furiously, even the fully human jury agreed with her,” Edd seems almost surprised, and it a bit nervous(?), at the response. Mr.Tacet clears his throat. “Well, that’s enough for today. Why don’t you all work on some personal projects for the remainder of the period?”

With that, the serious atmosphere shatters, and everyone begins to talk amongst themselves. Edd pulls on Matt’s sleeve, and Matt turns to look at him.

“Could you come with me? I’m a bit nervous about doing this on my own,” Edd asks, looking over in the direction of Mr.Tacet, and Matt nods, moving with Edd to the front of the classroom, where Mr.Tacet is sitting at his desk, head in his hands as he takes in deep breaths, obviously trying to calm himself. “Mr.Tacet, sir?” Edd asks very quietly, and the man in question, turns to look at them, eyes tired.

“Yes, Edward?” Matt finds it odd that Mr.Tacet has the inability to use any abbreviations when it comes to names, but doesn’t comment on it. Edd shifts, before speaking once more.

“My Gran-Gran, she speaks about you, sometimes. She’s proud of you, calls you ‘her greatest achievement’ when it comes to magicians she’s taught,” He says, and Mr.Tacet’s face melts into a smile.

“Thank you, Edward. I see her in you, you know. You have her eyes,” Mr.Tacet’s comment makes Edd blush, and he nods, before the bell rings, and he pulls Matt out of the classroom.

“Welp, never doing that again!” Edd speaks cheerily with a big smile on his face, before leaning onto the wall and sliding down to sit on the floor. “ _Ahh_ , why is that so stressful?!” Matt sist down next to Edd as Edd places his head in his hands. “What’s our next class?” Edd asks, and Matt looks at the small, brightly colored schedule he’d been given earlier.

“Says here that we have ‘Suh-per-nat-u-ral Hi-stor-ee,” Matt made sure to try and pronounce the words right. Wait, he’d read that! He grins to himself at the small victory. Edd bounces up and down at the words, smiling and grabbing Matt’s hand, dragging him through the hallway.

“C’mon! This class is going to be fun!” Edd shouts joyfully over his shoulder.

For a moment, Matt ponders stopping, but instead he just smiles and lets Edd lead the way.

* * *

Tord hears his parents argue a few nights before school starts.

“We don’t need to send him there! We can take care of him here just fine!” Dad 2’s voice rises slightly, and Tord notices that they’re both half shifted. Dad 1 puts a hand on Dad 2’s shoulder to comfort him, but Dad 2 flinches away, falls into the look of a scared child, hands close to his chest. Tord hates the way Dad 2 will get, because he _knows_ Dad 2 can’t help it, that something happened sometime before Tord ever had the comprehension to see the shifting eyes and paranoia, and Tord wants to take that away so his Dads can both be happy.

Dad 1 takes a step back and takes in a deep breath, and Tord notices that his hands shake as he moves them into the frame of a hug.

“Golden Academy helped us get together, remember? Maybe the same will happen with Tord. Besides, it’s the least we can do to have Tom not go alone, considering the circumstances,” Dad 1’s voice is soft and kind, the one eye he can still use staring into Dad 2’s with gentle compassion that makes Tord kinda want to barf. Dad 2 relaxes, leaning into Dad 1’s open embrace and sighing.

“I guess, yes, that makes sense,” He mumbles into the fabric of Dad 1’s shirt. Dad 1 leads Dad 2 to the bedroom, and the door is softly shut behind them.

Tord wonders about the Golden Academy he is being sent to, and wonders what Tom thinks. His chest hurts whenever he thinks of Tom, for some odd reason he can’t comprehend, and he rubs the spot where it hurts most in an attempt to soothe the ache.

_Deep in his mind, where he doesn’t venture, he knows what the ache means, but at the same time, he refuses to face it._

With a yawn, he makes his way over to his bed, tucks himself in, and looses himself to nonsensical dreams.

* * *

The day he and Tom leave, they pack themselves and their things into the Luvart family’s bright pink ‘Soccer-Mom’ van, and Tord makes sure Tom has plenty of the temporary cure he had scrambled to create after the initial failure that was his attempt to make Tom immortal. So far, the cure seems to work, the only sign Tom is different from humans are the two tiny purple horns poking out of his hair, but Tom makes sure to complain of the taste of the chemicals. Tord mixes up the drink with apple juice to try and make the cure more bearable, but it doesn’t help much. Dad 1 is driving, which doesn’t particularly make sense, considering the lack of depth perception, but Tord learned long ago that arguing with adults got you nowhere.

Tom didn’t seem to know this fact, and questions Dad 1’s competence.

“I can see fine one-eyed. After all, pirates were able to steer their ships, and they have eye-patches on all the time, right?” Dad 1’s reply is swift and lighthearted, to Tord’s surprise. Whenever he asks, he gets a much more sarcastic answer.

Probably because he asks _every time_ they get in the van, but still.

The drive is winding and long, though Dad 1 and Dad 2 say they’re going to move closer to the Academy while Tord is at school, and that there are great woods for camping nearby the house they’re looking at buying. They invite Tom to come over anytime, but Tom doesn’t reply. Tord doesn’t blame him.Tom’s parents reply to him being a monster was a little more than just lackluster.

It’s another thing for Tord to hate himself over, and he tucks it away in that hidden spot in his head so he won’t think about it.

Most of the trip Tord alternates between watching Tom listen to music( _on the new ipod and headphones Tord had got him as an apology gift, along with other things because he knew he could give Tom the world and it still wouldn’t be **enough**_ )and sleeping, so by the time they get there, Tord is just about ready to jump out the window. The building is large and looming, but only slightly threatening in Tord’s eyes. Tom never once lets his vacant expression of nonchalance falter, and Tord holds onto the memory of the way Tom smiled when his favorite song would come on like a lifeline. Dads 1 and 2 make their way out much slower then Tord wants, and when they look up at the building, Dad 1 smiles.

“Brings back memories, hmm~?” Dad 2 is blushing at the words, and again Tord wants to vomit. Why did he have to have the weird parents? A lady greets them at the door, and Tord is surprised that she has no monster features.

“Hello, I’m Ms.Occisor, the principal of Golden Academy. It’s nice to meet you,” Her voice is crisp and clear, British accent flared to the max. She wears high heels that gave her a good five inches, and her long blonde hair is pulled up in a bun. She has sharp cheek bones and fiery maroon eyes that seem endlessly hollow. Her skin is pale white and pulled tight on her bones, and when she smiles, her teeth are something Tord only thought he’d see on sharks.

Oh, well, that explains why she’s the principal.

She looks over at him, and he actually feels intimidated, like he’s back in the room with the one eyed monster that replaced his friend staring down at him. “I hear you have two very different species of supernatural children that you are sending to this school. Come. We’ll discuss your children’s needs in my office,” Dads 1 and 2 nod, and Tord expects them to correct that Tom isn’t their child, but they say nothing. A quick glance at Tom reveals that Tom was expecting the same, because Tom’s cheeks are glowing with blush and there’s a small smile on Tom’s face that Tord is _so **not**_ finding cute. Ms.Occisor looks back at them, and once again Tord feels like a fly trapped in a spider web, and she’s the spider closing in. “Your dorm room is the third one on the left,” She hands Tord a key. “Get settled in. Class starts in an hour, and you wouldn’t want to be late on your first day.” She walks up the stairs to the office area, leaving Tord and Tom alone in the empty hallway.

Well, empty wasn’t exactly true, since a few older looking monster kids were walking about and chatting, but it was the _principal_ of the thing!

…

_That wasn’t a pun, Tord swears on his **life.**_

* * *

They carry their suitcases to their room, and when Tord opens the door, the room is pretty nice. There’s a bunk bed, and Tom calls the top bunk. Tord doesn’t argue, doesn’t want to, and simply starts unpacking his things into the drawers and getting his school supplies together. Tom does the same, and it’s a long, tense silence before the first bell rings and they make their way to class.

Tord wants to say sorry a million times, but he can’t swallow the golf ball that is his indignation and pride, so he stays silent as they walk down the now crowded hallway.

The first two classes are boring, though the fire show is interesting.Tom doesn’t let go of the sippy cup Tord had bought for him, and Tord analyzes the two others that seem to move towards them. A vampire, though nothing like Ms.Occisor, and an unknown. They both seem innocent enough, though Tord trusts people like a bird trusts cats, so he lies in waiting to see if they will approach. They never do, but still sit next to Tom for some reason, and Tord wonders if the failed serum gave Tom attraction powers. Plausible, but unlikely, yet he still ponders the idea.

* * *

The next class he goes to is Supernatural History, and the teacher is…interesting, to say the least.

“Hi class! I’m Ms.Kenwood! I’ll be your teacher for Supernatural History. This year we’re gonna learn so much!” She wears an orange t-shirt and light brown short shorts that hug her chubby figure. Her tanned skin is covered in freckles, and she flutters about on pointed translucent green pixie wings. Her lavender eyes sweep the room, and her dark brown hair swishes as she moves. She’s small, at least in comparison to Mr.Tacet, but Tord finds her design interesting. Her voice is annoyingly chipper, however, so he feigns boredom and leans back in his seat. If Ms.Kenwood notices, she doesn’t say anything. The unknown, Edd, seems excited, and Matt, the vampire, looks at the bouncing green boy with some sort of joy that is foreign to Tord.

“Over the course of the year, we will start from the first known sightings of supernatural beings, including their involvements with cultures such as ancient Egypt, Norse Mythology, even all the way back to the Caveman Era!” Ms.Kenwood looks extremely excited at the prospect, which worries Tord. If she enjoys her subject, then she’ll expect them to be excited, and in turn she’ll want them to be more accurate when it comes to quizzes.

Though, he questions her words choice, considering she used words even he had a bit of trouble understanding. There’s a saying he likes to think of, ‘know your audience’, that he thinks Ms.Kenwood doesn’t know.

“Now!” The exclamation is punctuated with a brisk hand clap, causing Tord, and many others, to jump in surprise. Tom remains unperturbed. “Let’s get to introductions! My full name is Penny Leonard Kenwood, I’m 26 years old and I’m a pure-bred fairy! Fairies come from a world connected to this one by an inter dimensional magic force, much like the ones for faes! However, I chose to live in this world because I enjoy the freedom of being myself without the ideals of the perfect fairy stereotype. Any questions?” Her chest was heaving by the time she finished talking, and Tord boggles at how she said so much with one breath.

A kid raises his hand and immediately speaks, though he is not called on.

“Yeah,” The kid smirks. “Could you talk any slower?” The class bursts into old tv show style laughter, and Ms.Kenwood’s cheeks burn, though her smile doesn’t falter.

“No, actually, since I am speaking at the average speed most young children can comprehend, though I understand if you’re a bit slow on the uptake,” The class does the stereotypical ‘ooooo’ in response to Ms.Kenwood’s reply, and Tord silently commends her for the comeback. “Anyway, here’s a video over viewing the things we are going to learn over the course of this year. Don’t worry, no notes are required!” After that, Tord zones out and thinks of different ways to fix Tom’s affliction until the bell rings and they go to lunch.

* * *

The cafeteria is large, with high ceilings and about a million tables, along with five different lunch lines so as to not make kids wait so long for food, which Tord appreciates. Once he and Tom grab their food, they go sit down at a table away from everyone else, though Tord doesn’t think Tom is too happy that he’s sitting next to him. Either way, Tord’s not moving.

Tom doesn’t eat anything, just picks at his food, and Tord tries to find a way to get Tom to eat without addressing the problem head on, because he knows if he asks he’ll just get in a fight, and he’s really tired of arguing. He notices that Tom’s eyes stray to a slice of pie sitting next the girl who had asked the ghost a question, and he slinks his way over to her seat. She’s talking to Ms.Kat, so she doesn’t notice anything when Tord grabs the slice and walks back to Tom with a proud grin on his face, along with a puffed up chest. He sets the plate on the table grandly, and Tom gives no indication to show that he notices.

“Tom, I got you this! Eat it!” Tord demands, expecting Tom to at least try a bite.

“I don’t want it. You stole it,” Tom spits out, voice muffled as he speaks into his hoodie sleeve, and Tord tilts his head to the side in confusion, remembering the times they had snatched snacks form other apartments just a few months before without guilt. “But, we would steal all the time and-,” Tord is cut off by Tom standing up and grabbing the plate haphazardly.

“I said I DON’T WANT IT!” Tom’s yell is punctuated by him slamming the plate into Tord’s face, the plate shattering, and a few of the broken pieces cut Tord’s face. Tord is pushing Tom down before he can even register himself moving, and he glares down at Tom, bright red eyes glowing ferociously, but Tom doesn’t look scared, only angry and hurt, and Tord hates that because humans are _supposed_ to be scared of him, that is how the world works.

His thoughts remind him that Tom has _never_ been scared of him, and that Tom isn’t exactly a _human_ anymore.

He spins on his heel and stomps off, ignoring the stares of the many students in the room or the heavy feeling in his stomach that never goes away.

* * *

Jon doesn’t remember dying.

That’s a lie. He does, he just doesn’t like thinking about it.

His eyes were closed, and he was counting on numbers, and just as he reach the upright infinity sign, a loud boom echoed in his ears before a sharp flare of pain bloomed across the left side of his chest.

He’d fallen onto the grass, cause he was outside out at the time, and icky red liquid crawled up his throat so he had to cough it up and he couldn’t scream because he couldn’t breathe and it hurt so much that he started crying. The pain only got worse and worse and his polo shirt was ruined and all he could think of was the fact that his parents were going to be so mad that he ruined his one good shirt when the pain increased to the point of it becoming numb, and a cold feeling washed over him as darkness swallowed him whole.

He woke up in a place filled with clouds and people and the pain was gone and everyone seemed happy, but at the same time the euphoria was only half as good as the earth that he could see down below because he couldn’t find Eddie or Todd or Mark anywhere, and no one really knew him so he was left alone. On the bright side, many animals, including a myriad of kittens and puppies, came up to him to play, but it wasn’t the same as the field days of exploration and the weightlessness of the flights Todd had taken him on; the small, nearly imperceptible grins Eduardo would rarely show and the little talks with Mark that seemed to last forever.

Days passed on endlessly, but there was no need for sleep, so the hours and days blurred so Jon didn’t know how long he’d been up there.

One day, he heard his name being called, and an unseen force pulled him down towards earth, and while he missed the planet he didn’t like the feeling of being pulled away, or the feeling of falling with no one to catch you. He was dragged through the ground into some sort of container, but the moment he connected with it his entire being was one fire, and he screamed but nothing happened. In a split moment, he pulled away from the pain, and a sort of string connecting him the physical object snapped, leaving him to move up and out of the ground, falling invisible by instinct as he hit the earth and stayed tangible enough not to go through it.

He lays there; dizzy and tired, listening to the sound of the people around him.

There’s the sound of shouting, which reminds him of something else his mind doesn’t have the energy to bring up, and then there’s the sound of feet stomping over grass as the desperate pleas of a familiar voice that makes Jon want to get up, but he can barely move, let alone comfort someone.

After the footsteps leave, there’s just the lurching sound of heart wrenching sobs accompanied by whispered apologies that echo across the empty graveyard. The sobs turn into shuddering breaths as a person shuffles up, the flapping of wings the last sound besides the wind, and then Jon is left in silence.

He feels cold, which is odd, since he still has his polo on, and in all honestly it’s not that chilly outside. Yet, the cool feeling permeates his entire being, washing over him like a stream, and it’s a lethargic feeling.

He closes his eyes and rests.

* * *

He wakes up and stays in the cemetery for a while, because he doesn’t know where else to go. He’s never been to the cemetery before, and so it’s fun to hang around. A few weeks later, there’s some sort of even held. Jon spots Eddie at it, and it’s weird, because Eddie’s wearing a suit, which makes no sense, since the gathering almost looks like a party. The people start crying, and Eddie does too, because there’s giant box that gets buried.

Jon wants to say something, but he doesn’t want Eddie to yell at him, so he stays silent.

Just a few days later, Todd is dragging Eddie to the spot where the box was buried, and Todd says some weird stuff in a booming voice.

“ARISE, MARK LIVES!” Is what Todd says, and Eddie seems to understand the purpose of the words more than Jon does. Then, Marks hand comes out of the ground where the box was buried, and Eddie grabs Mark out of the ground.

Jon has to commend Todd on his gardening skills, because he has never seen anyone grow a person that fast, not to mention he had no idea you could grow people from the ground.

On another note, he now knows where babies come from.

He’s about to make his presence known, when two ethereal winged beings appear and scold Todd, leading to Todd running off, or rather flying off. Eddie stares in the direction that Todd leaves, and Jon doesn’t say anything until Eddie looks away.

“Eddie?” He calls out hesitantly, and Eddie’s head whips around to see him.

He smiles, and waves.

* * *

Todd hits the ground at a speed that would kill most mortals, the ground around him making a small crater around him as he makes impact with the small wheat field below him. The dirt is scratchy against his fur, and his claws break through the dry mess of the ground with ease as he tries to push himself up, but exhaustion refuses to allow him to do anything by lay still. His body aches, and his stomach grumbles, so used to eating food with Eduardo and the others, and he curses his lack of foresight.

For a moment, he lays there, wishing he could rest, could curl up in a ball and hide away from the world and sleep for years, but at the same time he can almost hear the large wing flaps of the stronger angels, and fear the punishment he’s sure to face. He’s seen people erased from existence as punishment for their crimes, and their screams that lapsed into abrupt silence echo in his head as he imagines what they’ll do to him if he gets caught.

He thinks about the moment he fell, when this spiral started. He’d always liked looking down on earth, because the green and blue colors made him smile, since heaven was very colorblind in general, the same ethereal light coating everything inside and out. He’d been looking down on earth fondly, when a hand came into harsh contact with his back and suddenly he was falling.

His wings moved uselessly as he tried vainly to regain control as he fell, the wind whipping his fur back and blurring his eyes with tears as he tried to call for help, only to get a bunch of insects stuck in his teeth.

Just as a small house came into view he was able to get his wings open, but it wasn’t enough to stop his descent completely, and he crashed through the roof, bounced off the bed, and landed unceremoniously in a heap on the floor.

It was then he met Eduardo, and then Mark and Jon, the people who, despite Todd’s non-human origins, made him feel safe and cared for.

He gets up, bones creaking as the joints crack and pop.

He thinks of Eduardo’s secret compliments and small gentle touches disguised as pushes.

He thinks of Mark and the conversations of the small things like the way the grass sways in the wind.

He thinks of Jon and the bright smiles and kind eyes that made everything seem okay.

He thinks of the friends who made him feel like earth was his home, and that the only place he ever belonged was with them.

He raises his wings, though they beg him not to move, and rises up in a swift motion that pushes back the wheat in the field with the wind it producing, moving at a speed that rivals planes, despite his growling stomach and aching muscles and exhausted limbs.

He moves past the horizon, and the only indication he ever stopped is the small indentation in the earth that soon is lost to the erosion of time.

* * *

Eduardo chews his food without much thought, eyes vacant as he thinks on the day. He, Mark and Jon all arrived early in the morning before being shown to their room, and they were the only newcomers with a group of three in their room. It was allowed since Jon didn’t need to bring anything besides school supplies, considering the lack of necessity of extra clothes and sleeping space.

Eduardo didn’t bring up any of those reasons with Jon when Jon had excitedly spoken about the three of them sharing room, because Jon always forgets his death in the worst ways possible, and Eduardo isn’t going to be the one to remind him of it. Eduardo had wanted to kill the girl who had asked Jon about his death, and he wanted to murder the adults who thought it would be better to use a machine on Jon than try to calm him down. Still, other than those two incidents, the day is going pretty well.

Then, Jon asks a question.

“Can I have some?”

In a perfect world, it’s an innocent question, and Eduardo would say something like ‘Get your own.’ And Jon would get in line and get something to eat. But it’s not a perfect world, and Eduardo has to swallow the lump in his throat and reply.

“You’re dead. You can’t eat,” He says, and Jon deflates, curling in on himself and wringing his hands together because he can’t touch anyone without his hands going through even though Jon loves physical contact.

Eduardo’s ‘I don’t give a shit’ expression falters at the sight, because Jon has the most heartbreaking kicked puppy face that the world has ever seen. He says something unexpected, so unexpected that Mark almost chokes on his food, not that it matters with his condition.

“You can posses me if ya want. Y’know, to eat, I guess,” Eduardo offers, holding out his hand, Jon stares at it for a long time.

Eduardo doesn’t actually know if that’s how possession works, but he does know that Jon’s most likely the most powerful ghost in the school. Most of the other ghost are almost invisible, because they don’t have enough energy to have a semi-transparent form like Jon does, though Eduardo does notice that one or two have little red lines on their wrists that contrast their light blue tone, and the sight makes him uneasy.

Jon, as Eduardo is musing, grabs the hand with an iron grip, before Eduardo feels the rush of Jon’s energy meld in to his skin almost like Jon’s putting on a glove, except Eduardo himself is the glove. It’s a disconcerting feeling, and Eduardo recoils in the back of his mind as he lets himself get pushed aside to make room for Jon to take control. Jon moves his arms mechanically to grab the fork sitting beside the plate of food on the table, almost as if he’s not used to the motion of actual physical limbs.

_Eddie?_

Eduardo shrinks in on himself as Jon feels the calloused bruises on his back from years of his mother hitting him with the belt, and Jon doesn’t press, simply continues the slow movement of getting the fork to pick up the curry rice, but every once in a while, Eduardo feels a flash of concern, and he vehemently ignores it.

Eduardo notices after a few moments that Jon has stopped moving, just staring at the green sleeved arm and the hand clutching the fork awkwardly, and then the hand starts to tremble ever so slightly, but just enough to get Eduardo worried.

_Jon?_

The moment he sends out the message in the now shared headspace, a flood of memories pelt him with flashing images of a pretty field and a woman in a blue dress with a kind looking face but cold looking eyes and blood and Eduardo can’t breathe because he feels like he’s dying and he doesn’t know how to make it stop.

Then, the images disappear entirely, as well as Jon’s presence, and Eduardo drops the fork with a clatter as he tries to regain proper control of his limbs, reeling from the images and emotions tied to them and the possession in general. Mark looks at him worriedly, but looks more up than at Eduardo, and when Eduardo is cognizant enough to look up himself, he sees Jon, glitch red outlines and all, struggling to regain control of himself.

The whole cafeteria is staring at them, but Eduardo only has eyes for Jon, wondering what to say to help the troubled spirit calm down, but he can barely perceive the reality that is the cafeteria from the field with a soft wind that makes the grass sway, so he watches as Jon pulls himself together, the small red line slowly fading out until all that remains is the familiar soft blue that Eduardo has come to associate with anything good in the world.

Jon looks down at Eduardo, face stricken with hurt and confusion.

“Um, I-uh…I need some fresh air!” Jon shouts flying up and through the ceiling out of Eduardo’s vision. Eduardo looks down at his plate, thinks of the images and finds that he’s lost his appetite.

“Eddie? I lost my leg again,” Mark comments and Eduardo sighs, long suffering.

“You’re an idiot Mark.”

* * *

Eduardo finds Jon already in their next class after lunch, smiling a seemingly composed.

However, Eduardo can see Jon’s hand shake, and the little ‘Hi!’ Jon shouts when they walk in is just a little too high pitched to be normal. Still he doesn’t comment, and simply looks around at the odd looking classroom they are in. There are tables set up as though for groups, and on the far wall there’s a giant fiberglass window over viewing a large training room full of obstacles and other little devices Eduardo doesn’t know about. Eduardo leads Jon and Mark to the table farthest from the front, and Jon floats above them in an unusual silence.

Some sort of dragon type man walks in with a sharp toothed drink on his face, the tank top he wears showing off his musculature.

The other students file in and sit down, though the one in red seems grumpier than usual as he sits down to the blue hoodied kid. The teacher claps his hands together.

“Welcome to Abilities Education class! I’m your instructor Darren. Now,” The slit eyes of Darren sweep across the room, and Eduardo doesn’t like the way the eyes seem to scan him when they pass over him.

“Let’s see what the new generation of supernatural beings has to offer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Penny and Darren are my friends ocs and I added another cameo i hope someone notices. LOL


End file.
